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THE SUMMER EXHIBITION, THE ROYAL ACADEMY, LONDON
CHRISTOPHER LE BRUN and
HUMPHREY OCEAN

Christopher Le Brun, president of the Royal Academy, and Humphrey
Ocean, professor of perspective at the Royal Academy Schools, have
been involved in numerous editions of the annual extravaganza that
is The Summer Exhibition. Christopher was the main coordinator in
2011, Humphrey was coordinator in 2008, and both have entered
works every year since being elected Royal Academicians.
Last autumn, the pair went to see Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner, in which
they watched their nineteenth-century counterparts Charles
Eastlake and JMW Turner take part in what was then The Royal
Academy Exhibition. ‘It wasn’t that different,’ notes Christopher.
Artists then shared the same concerns they do now: perhaps a paint-
ing has been hidden away or ‘skied’ (when it’s hung too high). ‘And
the president is there looking worried because he wants all the acad-
emicians to be happy but knows that at least half a dozen won’t be.’
It is a rare occasion where the works of amateurs can hang next to
professional artists in some of the world’s most beautiful galleries.
The figures associated with The Summer Exhibition are impressively
large: 2015 marked 247 years on the trot, 12,000 works were
submitted and over 1,200 installed, with a selection and hanging
committee of nine coordinated by Michael Craig-Martin.
‘You can enter from across the globe,’ says Humphrey, ‘but in prac-
tice it’s a reflection of Britain – it runs parallel to what is appearing
in Frieze magazine and what all the big galleries are showing.’ ‘One
of the special things,’ adds Christopher, ‘is that these artists are
fearless. Unlike curators their jobs don’t depend on how the works
are hung, so they can take more dangerous decisions.’
‘You stand in these magnificent rooms and you are part of a com-
plete continuum,’ he says. ‘We are at the point where society meets
the arts because here, the schoolgirl, her mum, the artist and the
international superstar are all in the same space together. Where
else do you find that? You might call that establishment but who
cares? It’s just the point where people meet art.’ royalacademy.org.uk

HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2015